Electrical grids are networks for delivering electricity from electricity suppliers to consumers. Smart grids are electrical grids that use two-way digital communications technology to control and monitor power consumption at consumption points or appliances attached to the electrical distribution network. Some of the advantages of smart grids include saving energy, improved reliability, and reduction in cost.
An electrical grid is composed of networked equipment whose performance and reliability is dependent on parameters such as atmospheric temperature, humidity, reliability of its component parts, age of equipment, system load, and other parameters. Equipment failure is usually attributed to one or more of the above-mentioned parameters. There are instances where failure of a single equipment component leads to failure of several other equipment components attached to the electrical grid, or to disruption in electrical supply. These disruptions are due to equipment failure or mechanisms to protect the grid from spreading the failure. Hence, it becomes complex to accurately determine which combination of parameters led to the equipment failure or to a cascade of failures in subsequent equipment connected to the electrical distribution network.
While there are methods in electrical equipment control systems that indicate failure using diagnostic tests to monitor performance and reliability metrics of individual equipment, these diagnostic tests report failure only after an event has occurred. Often, causes of equipment failure are directly related to multiple parameters measured from the electrical grid equipment over a period of time.
Therefore, there is a particular need for methods and systems that predict reliability and performance metrics of the electrical grid equipment using available historic and real-time measurements.